A very hot and sunny day yet again. There was another reasonable arrival of migrants in the bushes with 20 Willow Warblers, 11 Sedge Warblers, 24 Reed Warblers, a Grasshopper Warbler, a Garden Warbler, 12 Lesser Whitethroat and a Pied Flycatcher of note. Birds passing overhead included 195 Swifts, a Golden Plover, two Green Sandpipers, a Greenshank, 283 Swallows, 332 Sand Martins and 28 Yellow Wagtails and in the evening a massive flock of gulls arrived to feed on flying ants which included at least 1000 Mediterranean Gulls. An Arctic Skua was seen offshore.
Two Porpoises and two Grey Seals were feeding offshore.
The moth traps were very productive again with the highlight being a Tapestry Moth. This was once a common enough moth in houses etc but is now hardly ever recorded even at a national level. Other noteworthy moths included a Beet Moth, two Evergestis limbata, a Pyralis farinalis, a Neophopteryx angustella, two Clay Triple-lines, two Portland Ribbon Waves, 40 Small Mottled Willows, a Delicate and four Small Ranunculus, A Clouded Yellow butterfly was also seen.
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| Tapestry Moth Trichophaga tapetzella Dungeness 14th August 2026 |